Green debate over black gold

Canadian oil won’t be left in the ground

In response to “Crowd protests oil pipeline” (Feb. 18): OK I don’t get it, please help me. We don’t get the oil from Canada through a pipeline. So instead Canada ships that SAME oil to China (which doesn’t have the pollution controls we do). Which has to go over on a ship and cause even more green house gases for NO reason. We then continue to buy oil from Venezuela and again SHIP it to the U.S. I know the left lives in la-la land but do they think that if the U.S. doesn’t get the oil from Canada they will just leave it in the ground? It seems to me it would be MORE green to send Canada’s oil to us through a pipeline. – Kevin Hippensteel, Santee

Tactics on tourism deal hurting city

By not signing the contract to promote San Diego, Mayor Filner doesn’t get the long-term repercussions that his delay will cause the city (“Filner: New deal needed on tourism marketing,” Feb. 18). Without the expenditure of those tourism promotion dollars, he is actually hurting the coffers of the city.

First, the tax revenue that comes from accommodations will be decreased because less tourists will be coming to our fair city and booking hotel rooms.

Second, since less tourists will be here, less of their money will be spent here, again decreasing the revenue stream that comes from taxes collected on sales of food, beverages, gifts, etc.

Third, with less tourists spending less money and booking less hotel rooms and eating at local establishments, those employers will have to cut the hours of their employees or lay some of them off. This will also bring about less income for the city because those employees will have less money to spend for their personal needs. And of course, some of those laid-off employees are union members who voted for him [a few] months ago. Then perhaps they will reconsider how their votes for Filner have cost them their jobs and their income.

Filner’s intractability at this point needs to be quickly reconsidered. By not signing the contract he’s hurting the city, the tourism business, and a multitude of employers and employees, some sooner than later. – Robert Gillchrest, San Diego

Many of your readers have submitted excellent reviews of “King” Mayor Filner’s poor performance so far in his term on such topics as overriding voters’ approval of managed competition programs for the city; refusing to abide by the already approved fund dispositions for the San Diego Tourism Board which is desperately needed by that agency; and many other programs the City Council had already approved for execution.

Is it too soon for a recall before it is too late for the distraught citizens of our great city? – Dan Yelvington, San Carlos

Save San Diego from SOHO

We all know the Plaza de Panama Project was defeated (“Balboa Park plan rejected,” Feb. 5).

After listing SOHO’s other objections to the project at the City Council’s final hearing, Bruce Coons exclaimed, “Well, it’s just a bad plan!” He didn’t convince the city administration, so he disdained them.

In the end, the Plaza de Panama Project was defeated by a poorly constructed paragraph, one word in particular, in a municipal statute.

Bruce Coons claimed that SOHO had “saved” Balboa Park.

SOHO, a different type of organization, previously, now, survives on controversy while pleading for donations.

SOHO did not save Balboa Park, but Balboa Park’s heritage should currently and with alacrity be saved from SOHO, as it presently represents itself. – Susan Schiffer, Bankers Hill

GOP needs to find its balance

Sunday’s editorial (“Focus on pocketbook issues and outreach can revive GOP,” Feb. 17) states regarding Obamacare: “Premiums are expected to increase 42 percent for those 21 to 29 as a result, and it will no longer be legal for the young to forgo health insurance. This will be a powerful pocketbook issue benefiting Republicans.”

That depends. It will be a pocketbook issue benefiting Republicans if they continue to take the one-sided “no taxes or fees must be raised under any circumstances” approach, as this does indeed indicate higher payments by citizens.

On the other hand, if the Republican Party were to return to its more responsible past, where it used to be the party of the balanced budget, suggesting a balance of income with outflow, it would have to recognize that these very fees are what will make Obamacare a balanced program which pays for itself.

The Republican Party used to be known for its commitment to a balanced budget, which means income equals outflow. It is a shame that the Republican Party has left this stance to become the party of “no income, no taxes regardless of balance.” That stance created a humongous deficit during the [George W.] Bush years and it appears that there has been no change. – Lee Galloway, San Diego

In response to John P. Schatz (Letters, Feb. 18): How can so many Republican (Christians?) “right to life; life is precious; life is a gift from God” be so adamantly in favor of the death penalty? – Gary B. Urtiaga, Point Loma

Smart student

Ah, out of the mouths of babes – listen up, Bill Kowba. Richella A. Tamondong, the Morse High School senior, is a very insightful young lady (Letters, Feb. 15).

Every influx of new sales taxes or bond money to “fund education” has technology sales reps licking their chops and beating a path to San Diego Unified, flush with new money. Once purchased, the district then pays for mandatory teacher training, substitute teacher salaries on those training days, and maintenance of the new products. Thirty-six students, 36 backpacks, 10’ by 10’ Promethean boards, large computer carts in dirty classrooms with broken chairs are not conducive to learning.

District-purchased iPads serve as baby-sitters for elementary school and special-ed kids. Sixth-graders figure out how to play violent games on their free laptops in class, library, lunch and playground.

Got all this money to spend? Technology cannot take the place of a caring teacher. A librarian guides kids in reading and research. School nurses can help a kid get glasses and manage a child’s diabetes. Landscapers and custodians keep our schools clean and maintained. Let’s not squander Prop. Z and sales tax money on shiny, expensive, barely used and often broken technology.

What does community want in airport artwork?

As the artist who created “Lucky Spirit” (the Lindberg mural) for the Commuter Terminal, I think the Airport Authority may consider some of the good aspects of creating a new mural or keeping the old mural.

Positive points for new artwork:

Variation on a theme of Charles Lindbergh or aviation

Gives other artists an opportunity

Possible use of new media

Chance to forge new connections with people

If you are over the old one, something new to grab your imagination.

Positive points for putting the old mural back up:

High comfort level with something familiar and a local landmark.

It’s tried and true, and if it “ain’t broke, don’t fix it”

Two polls taken say 90 percent and 86 percent of readers want it to be reinstalled.

It won two Orchid Awards in 1997.

New paint technology that gives it a decades-long life span.

This mural was chosen in 1997 among 300 other entries.

By making a re-creation of the original, the Airport Authority could save $83,600, funds which could be used for other art projects.

It’s your city and you should decide how you want it to look. – John Whalen, La Mesa

The price of gasoline

Although there hasn’t been all that much in the U-T lately about the soaring price of gasoline the price of a gallon of gas has reached a new high – and nobody seems to care, certainly not the “leaders” in Sacramento and Washington who view the rise as a means to forward the “clean energy” agenda.

In any event, the great and powerful oil companies offer as the reason for the spike in gas prices to be a shortage resulting from something called “refinery maintenance,” a device of their own making and not because there is a real shortage of oil by the barrel. Think about this: It is costing the oil companies not one cent more to make a gallon of gas than it did three months ago, but because the oil companies have made up an artificial shortage, the cost of a gallon has been raised 25 percent. This fits the definition of robbery, where money is taken, in this case, by extortion. To some this is called the Information Age; actually it’s the Gullibility Age! Stick ‘em up! – Tom Davis, Chula Vista